Caregiver
by PhantomPierce-Okamoto
Summary: Lucy loves her job as a journalist, though her deadlines make it extremely difficult to write. In her attempts to focus, she occasionally (always) forgets to actually take care of herself. Oneshot, Modern AU


**Hello friends! Have a short, fluffy Christmas NaLu oneshot that I wrote as a gift for sorcerer-weekly on tumblr :)**

 **Title: Caregiver  
** **Summary: Lucy loves her job as a journalist, though her deadlines make it extremely difficult to write. In her attempts to focus, she occasionally (always) forgets to actually take care of herself. Oneshot, Modern AU**

"Natsu, get the hell out of my house."

He walked into her kitchen. "Hey Luce, when was the last time you went grocery shopping?" She fumed, watching him ruffle through her refrigerator.

"Not too long ago, okay? I am not making anything for you, so please get out." she seethed.

No response. He walked into the living room. "So your laundry isn't done, your TV is on from two days ago and you need to restock your fridge. Probably haven't vacuumed either." he noted.

"What part of get out do you not understand?!"

"All of it." Natsu's aimless response just made her angrier. "Okay, I'll be back in a few."

Lucy groaned as he jumped through her window onto the fire escape. She sat back down at her desk, tapping her fingers against the wood as she thought. Being a journalist for the Magnolia Times was one of the most prestigious jobs she could ever have, though the writer's block didn't help at all. Deadlines only seemed to add weight to the block on her shoulders.

"Luce, I'm back."

"It's been like fifteen minutes!" Lucy cried.

"Try an hour. I dropped your clothes at the Laundromat so you can get it later, and I got food."

"Natsu, I have food in my fridge." She then sighed. "It's been an hour already?! Ugh, I've written like two sentences since you left..."

"Two yogurts doesn't count as 'food'." Natsu mused. "And sorry to hear that, I know you have a lot going on but I'm sure you can do it. All you have to do is continue to work."

"Thanks Natsu...but...but I don't know. I don't have any idea what to do for this damn article." She slammed her head against the desk. "Ow..." She looked up to see the gibberish her head-slam had typed for her.

Natsu laughed. "Okay. Why don't you just keep working? I can make dinner."

"You are not allowed in my kitchen." Lucy glared, suddenly standing up. "I cannot and will not pay for the damage you do to it."

He laughed again. "Let it go! It was one time!"

"Never again. I'll make dinner." Lucy declared, storming away.

Natsu shrugged behind her. He proceeded to use her computer as she walked into the kitchen and started making food.

"Stupid Natsu, barging into my house, making me distracted." Lucy muttered as she pulled out some of the groceries he had bought. "Agh, I have to pay him back for the groceries too..."

She poured pasta into boiling water and stirred, then heated the Alfredo sauce in a saucepan.

After making the pasta, she brought it onto the table. She watched Natsu drool, to her amusement.

"Thanks for the food!" he cheered, digging in. Lucy stared, slightly amused and slightly annoyed.

"How did this start again?" Lucy murmured. _Oh, I know exactly how it started..._

Five months ago, during one of her first deadlines, she was stressed to say the absolute least.

"This article is due in two days and I barely have half done!" Lucy had groaned.

"Hey Luigi, got any food?"

She stood up, enraged. "My name is _Lucy_! Natsu, stop barging into my apartment when you have your own right under mine! It has been two weeks and you haven't failed to burst through the window every other day!" she ranted.

"Mhm. Shame, let me check your fridge." He had completely ignored her back then too.

"Get. Out."

"Lucy, you have like nothing in your fridge." he had told her. "You have a few cartons of yogurt and the bottle of hot sauce I gave you last week."

"Which I don't even use, I don't eat spicy food." Lucy muttered.

"Exactly. When was the last time you had a decent meal?"

Lucy didn't dwell on the fact he had heard her. "Um...it was probably...sometime." Lucy waved off. "Besides, the point is you really have to stop."

Natsu turned to her, giving her a suspicious look first, morphing slowly into worry as his eyebrows furrowed. "That's not healthy, you know. Last time I came there wasn't much either. Do you even go grocery shopping?"

"I don't have time! I have to write this article!" Lucy exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air.

Natsu's jaw dropped. "You're pretty much starving yourself."

"No, I'm not. Now leave so I can get to work."

To her astonishment, he actually left, jumping out the window.

"I can't believe that worked..." She returned to her desk, typing away.

About two hours later, her frustration only growing, she heard the window open. Irritated, she didn't even look up.

She heard ruffling, and her fridge opening and closing. She buried her head into her arms and growled. She heard the stove turning on, and after that, nothing but the sound of the crackling gas.

She returned to work. She had written four more sentences when she heard the sound of an explosion.

Falling out of her chair, she scrambled towards her kitchen and nearly fell over again when she saw what he had done.

The metal of her stove had been flung onto the floor, and scorch marks led from the stove onto her cabinets and counter. Ash was settling all over and Natsu's bright pink hair was tinted brown from burning.

"What did you _do?!_ " Lucy yelped.

"Uh, I don't know?"

"What were you doing?! How did that happen?! You destroyed my kitchen!" she screamed.

"Uh...I was cooking?"

"That is making things explode! What do you mean cooking?! Why were you cooking here anyway?!"

"Well you're not cooking for yourself are you?"

Lucy fell silent, jaw opening and closing with a lack of an argument.

Her life had been turned upside down ever since.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Natsu's voice shook her out of her memories.

Lucy smiled, feeling a bit touched. "Oh, nothing. Just about unexpected kindness or something."

Natsu gave her a look. "You're weird." he commented.

She puffed out her cheeks. "Am not."

"Are you gonna eat after going to all the trouble?"

Lucy scoffed, serving herself some pasta. "Weirdo." She stuck her tongue out at him before proceeding to eat dinner.

After cleaning up her table and kicking Natsu out of her house, ignoring his protests, she returned to her desk. She read the title, and the assignment she was given. Deleting her entire document (which was not that big of a deal, after all she had only gotten about two paragraphs in), she started again.

"What Is Love." Lucy read her boss's assignment. "Write a piece on what you think love is for your column. Also, how you think people show love."

 _It's obvious love is something people desperately want to experience. After all, other deem it magical, the best feeling in the world and such. Though when searching fervently for it, sometimes you don't realize it's right in front of you._

 _Love can be displayed in many ways, depending on the person. And when you realize that someone's actions are from the heart, you can finally feel the magical feeling that is love._

* * *

"Hey Luce, what's up?"

"Can you enter through the door like a normal human being, please?"

"Nope." Natsu grinned at her. "What are you doing?"

"My article was really popular with the readers! I'm getting promoted to a front page column for next week." Lucy replied cheerfully. "What about you?"

"Hey, that's awesome. Congrats." he told her. "I didn't get to read it, though. And not much."

Lucy suddenly flushed. "O-Oh, that's probably for the best, it's not that good or a-anything." she stammered. _I totally forgot I basically used him in it. I kinda don't want him to read it..._

"But I want to..." he whined.

"No, no." she laughed nervously. "Anyway...can I help you?"

"Just wanted to hang out." he shrugged, lounging on her couch.

"You have your own couch, don't you dare mess mine up."

"Luce, you're such a meanie."

"Grow up."

"Never!" He pouted as he stood up and walked over to her. "Writing another article?"

"Yeah." Lucy pursed her lips.

"I hope you've been eating..."

"There's food in the fridge. All you have to do is heat it up, and I'm hoping you can use the microwave."

"You haven't eaten all morning, have you."

Lucy whipped around to look at him. "How did you know...?"

"Lucky guess." Natsu sighed. "Looks like I have no choice..." He approached her with a sinister smirk. She was suspicious when she saw the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Natsu...what are you..." He raised both of his hands, wiggling his fingers. "...don't you dare. Natsu, I swear to god- EEK!"

"Tickle attack!" he shouted. She jumped away, running from him.

"Natsu, stop!"

"Never!"

"Ah!" Lucy tripped over her rug and ended up on the floor. Natsu took the opportunity to tickle her all over.

"Got you!" he exclaimed, tickling her as she tried to push him off.

"Get off!" she whined. He hovered over her, still smirking down at her. She used her hands to try to push him off, to no avail. He took her hands and held them down on the floor.

"I win." he declared childishly. Lucy was about to retort in response when she noticed their position, where Natsu held her down and was just above her, staring down. Her mouth opened slightly and she felt warmth creep into her cheeks.

"U-Uh...um...N-Natsu..." she stuttered, aware of their proximity.

"You okay?" he asked gently. Her blush darkened. She couldn't say anything afterwards, staring up at him. "Luce?"

She tried to control her breathing. _I don't know what is going on with me, but I absolutely cannot be obvious about my feelings for him._ Her blush darkened again after that.

He leaned in closer. "Hey Luce, I'm going to do something stupid." he breathed.

"Wh-What are you talking about...?"

And then, he closed the gap and kissed her. Lucy kissed him back hesitantly, shocked at the situation. He pulled away and looked down at her, pupils dilated and expression nervous.

"Can you let me sit up now?" Lucy mumbled timidly. Natsu laughed nervously.

"U-Uh yeah. Sorry." he stammered, getting off her. He held his hand out to pull her up, which she took gratefully.

She sat up, then wrapped her arms around his neck to kiss him again.

* * *

 _It's been a while since I've written about love. (The editor is going to kill me for adding this paragraph to an article but it's okay.) The first time I experienced it, I didn't know that it would go from simple love, the beautiful love found in friends, to full blown romantic love. It can happen so fast, and I doubt anyone can expect it. Everything is really different when you're in love. It's more than just happiness. It's having someone who cares for you, whom you care for too. More than anything._

* * *

"Luce~" Lucy snorted. "Play with me."

"You are twenty six. I am sure you are fully aware of entertaining yourself."

"But it's more fun with you..." he whined.

"Natsu, come on. You know I have an article due." He pouted. Lucy giggled, looking at him next to her on the couch. She gave him a peck on the lips. "There. Now are you happy?"

Natsu gave her a look. "Of course not, that's not enough." He pulled her in for another kiss, one hand behind her head.

Lucy pulled away. "I need to work."

"Nah, work later. Kiss now."

Lucy burst out laughing, holding her stomach. "No." she stated between uneven breaths.

"But Luce...I love you are care about you and I want a kiss."

"You make it hard to refuse." Lucy kissed him again, setting her laptop to the side.

"I always win," he whispered against her lips.

Lucy smiled. _And I wouldn't have it any other way._

 **Really hope you enjoyed!**

 **~Phantom-chan**


End file.
